Chapter One
The Ruckus was living up to its name tonight.
Roxie looked around the bar.The place was all gussied up.The room was packed, and things were hopping.Confetti littered the floor, and streamers tumbled from the ceiling.A sign at one end of the room said Happy Retirement, Charlie, while another over the jukebox proclaimed Grand Reopening.
Spirits were high, so—darn it—why wasn’t she feeling it?
All around her, people were smiling, and a party atmosphere filled the air.It was a strange vibe for a biker bar.Balloons had been vetoed big-time, but even the burly, tattooed guys were having fun with the noisemakers.
It was a celebration for Charlie.
And for her.
She took a deep breath.
The Ruckus was hers.Hers and hers alone.
Well, except that Charlie was still a silent partner.She’d scrimped and saved her entire life, but she hadn’t had enough to cover the cost of taking over the bar when the opportunity had presented itself.Still, she’d gone for it and had been lucky when her old boss had agreed to a compromise.He’d continue sharing in the profits until she could pay him off, but she relished the idea of having something that was truly hers.
The Ruckus was something solid, something tangible.She could touch it and know it wasn’t going away.
Stability was something new in her life, but the more of it she found, the more she craved.She was building rock-steady relationships with sisters she’d only recently been reunited with.Now, she was a business owner.She might not have a fancy education like Lexie or a trade like Maxie, but she knew how to run a bar.She could do this.
So why was she feeling so mopey?
She let out a sigh.
“The place looks great,” Lexie said as she balanced a basket of peanuts and a Diet Coke.She and her boyfriend, Cam, had found a table near the jukebox—the spot of their infamous first make-out session—but getting back there without spilling everything would be a trick.The crowd was thick.
“Thanks,” Roxie replied.“It cleans up pretty well, doesn’t it?”
Her sister was being kind.They both knew that underneath all the party decorations, the tables were scarred and the floors were scuffed.The place wasn’t fancy.It was a dive, and everyone knew it.Tomorrow it would go back to having peanut shells wedged in seat cushions and unidentified sticky substances on the bathroom floors.But it was hers.
She passed a bag of limes to the bartender and took the cold glass of water he handed her.
“Can you believe it?”Lexie said, grinning from ear to ear.She lifted her Diet Coke.“Here’s to being entrepreneurs!”
Their glasses tinkled as they touched.“Cheers,” Roxie murmured.
Entrepreneurs of two very different businesses.Lexie and Cam had recently started a hand-me-down toy company for kids.This bar was definitely for adults.
And not the kind who went to church on Sundays.
Spotting a spill on the countertop, Roxie grabbed a towel from behind the bar and mopped it up.She was tired.The past few weeks had been a whirlwind.Charlie wasn’t a planner.Once he’d made the decision to retire, the wheels had started turning and she’d had to run to keep up.Tonight was the first opportunity she’d had in a while to unwind.She just needed to let go and enjoy the night.
Everyone else was.
She glanced to the back room.Through the open doorway she could see Maxie learning how to play pool—much to the interest of the onlookers.Zac didn’t look comfortable having a group of bikers watching his girlfriend as she bent over the pool table and handled a stick, but he was as surprised as everyone else when two balls went into the pockets on the break.
Roxie grinned.That was her sister, always a surprise.
Then again, they’d all been a surprise.To each other and to everyone they knew.The fact that she even had sisters had been a shock.Roxie couldn’t believe how much her life had changed over the past few months.By chance, she’d stumbled across two identical sisters she hadn’t known she had.She would’ve been stunned to find one sibling, but she’d been flabbergasted to learn that she was part of a set of identical triplets.There were three of them.Three walking, talking copies of each other.
Go figure.For someone who’d grown up in foster care, that was a trip.
She still pinched herself to make sure it was true.Her arms were black and blue, but her sisters were real.She had a family now, and she was fiercely protective of it.It had taken decades for her to get her sisters back.How they’d ever been separated in the first place, nobody knew, but she wasn’t going to let them disappear again.Even though she knew how easily love could slip out of her fingertips…
Maxie appeared at her side, along with Zac.Reaching over Roxie’s shoulder, she grabbed the glass and stole a quick sip of water.“This place is fun,” she declared.
